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Thursday, March 29, 2012

This week I tried out a recipe for Cake Batter Cheesecake Bars. I've never ever made anything cheesecake before by scratch but this actually turned out pretty good. Not the best but good for my first cheesecake experience. This recipe was found at The Teenage Taste and is copied basically straight from there:

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups Crushed Nilla Wafers

6 tablespoons butter, melted

16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (I used low-fat.)

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

½ cup yellow cake mix (I used funfetti cake mix)

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

½ cup + 2 tablespoons milk (I used 1%.)

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sprinkles

~5 drops blue food coloring (optional)

~3 drops green food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan, then line with parchment paper; set aside.

Stir together cookie crumbs, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, and the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is just brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining granulated sugar and beat for an additional couple of minutes, until smooth. Add the eggs and yolk, milk, vanilla, salt and beat again until completely combined and smooth. Finally, stir in the cake mix and sprinkles until smooth.

Pour the filling over the crust. Set the pan in a larger pan (a 9×13-inch works for this), and add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Bake until just set, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the baking pan from the water bath, and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Cut into bars. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Monday, March 26, 2012

This Saturday is my Birthday! (eep!) So I'm working on planning a little get together and I'm in the process of planning! For Perpetual Pinners this week I am posting some inspiration pins! What have you pinned lately??

Thursday, March 22, 2012

If you couldn’t tell already, I love to bake. If I have a day off it is one of my favorite things to do. Lately I’ve been into cupcakes so bare with me while I splurge about these scrumptious things! This recipe was adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

-1 box of white cake mix (I used Pillsbury)

-1 stick butter

-1 cup water

-3 eggs

-Package of oreos

Filling:

-13 oz jar Marshmallow Crème (I used fluff)

-1 stick butter

-¼ teaspoon vanilla

-4 tablespoons heavy cream

-1 & ½ cups powdered sugar

Frosting:

-4 sticks butter

-¼ cup heavy cream

-2 teaspoons vanilla

-8 cups powdered sugar

-15 crushed oreos, very finely

-Mini oreos for topping

Step 1) Preheat oven to 350 and place Oreo in the bottom of each liner.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Did you know that Shutterfly now has yearbooks?! They look so much cooler than any ones I used to get in school. They are so colorful and fun! It’s the perfect thing to preserve school memories for your child or your school! It’s super easy to create page templates for activities, subjects, classrooms, and faculty photos.

Here are some thoughts from Shutterfly on their new Yearbooks!

1.Easy-to-make (we promise) - Use our specially designed page templates to capture school activities along with favorite student, classroom and faculty pictures. Make it just the way you want with our All New Custom Path.2.Easy on your pocketbook - Get up to 75% off when you order for your class or school. We have prices as low as $5 per Yearbook, which are only available by contacting Shutterfly for a quote.3.Made to love, made to last - Our award-winning photo books are printed in color and professionally bound. Your Yearbook is saved forever and you can re-order it at any time

Aside from schools, this seems like it would also be great for camps, home school groups, or really any kind of group activities! A photo yearbook for something like a family reunion would be fun as well. There are so many different possibilities!

You can check out the new Shutterfly Yearbooks at their website or at any of their social media channels. You can follow them at: Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.

I know I can't be the only one who hates the thought of blood work. So I'm a priss. And I've had this sitting here since last August. ...I may or may not have found it in a stack of papers this week... Pointless post but someone kick my butt in gear and just go fricken do this? ugh.

Anyway, sorry I've been a little M.I.A. lately...apparently there's been a lot on my mind and quite a few new developments occurring in my life right now! We are starting our clown group back up, I'm going to be training in a new department at work, my husband & I started playing on a soccer team, just lots of new adventures! Hopefully there will be some regular posts this week!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

crackle nail polish. I'm sorry if you like it...but to me it looks like you slammed your nails up against a wall. I know I'll probably end up trying it out at least once though (after that I'll probably love it) Anyone have anything or any cool ideas to change my mind about it?